The room had cleared except for Elsbeth. Elora said, “I need a shower,” and started to move the covers away.”
Instead of respondin’ directly, Elsbeth looked at me. I knew Elora would want to know what that was about, but it could no’ be helped. The situation was delicate.
I told Elsbeth, “Give us a minute, please?”
“Sure.” She looked toward Elora. “Back in a few.”
When she was gone, I said, “You heard what Monq said. By lunch time you’ll be your perfect self.”
“He said ‘good as new’.”
I felt a smile comin’ on and shut it down. I’d learned my lesson about pullin’ stitches and did no’ want to look like Frankenstein for the rest of my life. “So he did. Will you trust me in this? Please. Just wait until after lunch to take your shower.”
“Why?”
“I need you to trust me on this. As your partner.”
She studied me for a few seconds, decidin’ whether or no’ I was worth her trust, I suppose.
“I feel grungy.”
“And will you have whine with that?”
“Oh. And I’m not entitled to a little whine?” In truth, she was entitled to all the complainin’ she might want to do. She was unique in the sense of bein’ a woman who’d survived a vampire attack with personality intact. “What have you got to entertain me then?”
I looked around. “I could make my six pack dance. I know you like that one.” I spoke before rememberin’ that my six pack was in pieces, hastily put back together like Humpty Dumpty, and that there probably would be nothin’ funny about such a performance.
She snorted, but did no’ say, “Ew,” even though I knew she was thinkin’ it.
I picked up the room phone and called Kay. They had still no’ brought me my own phone.
When he answered, I said, “Could you grab Elora’s laptop and stop by with it?” Pause. “Hmmm.” Pause. “Yep.”
I hung up the phone and said, “How about shoppin’? All that stuff you wanted at Bloomin’dale’s that we could no’ carry? You can buy it and have it delivered.” She smiled brightly. “See? There’s nothin’ like spendin’ money on shite you do no’ need to change your outlook.”
Kay brought me the computer and a decaf Americana from the Hub. He said the docs would have his hide if he’d brought real caffeine that would keep me from sleepin’. I got myself in the wheelchair and rolled out in the hall after him.
He looked down at me. “You’ve changed, Ram. You strike me as mated and mature.”
“’Tis cruel of you to insult me so when I can no’ defend myself.”
He laughed, grabbed my shoulder, but froze before shakin’ me, like he’d just remembered I was fragile as a china doll.
“Monq told us he thinks he has a fix for her.”
“Aye. Stuck her with a horse-sized needle. I’m distractin’ her with shoppin’ to keep her from seein’ what we see when we look at her.”
Kay nodded, lookin’ plaintive. “Yeah. I think that’s best. All and all she seems to be handling this pretty well. I do think she acts like a dumb ass sometimes…”
“Hey!”
“…but I have to hand it to her. Coming to this dimension, which meant losing everybody who meant anything to her and everything she knew? I don’t think many of us could have handled it as well. And adapted so quickly.”
“Aye. She’s special.”
“That she is. Well, I’ll let you get back in there. I know you’d rather be with her than out here talking to me.”
“No worries, Kay. I’ll always remember you were my first love.”
“Fuck off.”
I laughed, then winced and gritted my teeth for forgettin’ again. He walked away, snickerin’ at my pain. Damn him.
Elora was sittin’ up with the laptop on her… lap, busily shoppin’ her heart out. I crawled back in bed and was content to lie near her, listenin’ to the keys click away. Everything was goin’ to be okay. I felt it down to my bare feet.
We stayed like that through the mornin’. A couple of times nurses came in to do their busywork. A couple of times Elora turned and asked me questions about this or that. O’ course I did no’ care what she wore, but tried to seem interested enough to validate a choice or offer an opinion, for what ‘twas worth. I was pleased and flattered that she cared what I thought and asked me.
I may have dozed from time to time, feelin’ both tired and content. A little after eleven I roused, hearin’ her say, “What do you think of the way these colors fall out? You like the gray or the black?”
I turned my head to the left to answer and came face to face with turquoise eyes shimmerin’ like a kaleidoscope of golden and yellow flecks. I remembered a day in the Bahamas when I’d been struck by the beauty of sunlight shinin’ on the shallows of a turquoise sea. I would have laughed with joy, but the sight had taken my breath away.
“What?” she asked, seemin’ suddenly self-conscious about the way I was lookin’ at her.
I simply reached for the call button. A female voice said, “Yes?”
“Get Monq up here now.” Turnin’ back to Elora I said, “Your eyes had temporarily lost their very fetchin’ color. But, thank Paddy, you appear for all the world to be well. Take a shower when you wish.”
Her lips parted and she blinked slowly. “I looked like a vampire?”
“Aye.”
She processed that. “Wow. Everybody did a pretty good job of covering that up.”
“’Tis proof of how much they care about you.”
Elora insisted on walkin’ to the shower without assistance, albeit slowly. The two of us would have probably been hilarious in a race at that point.
Monq arrived while she was groomin’.
“How long does she usually take?” he asked.
“First, I would no’ know the answer to that question,” I said. “Second, there’s nothin’ ‘usual’ about this circumstance.”
He nodded and sat swingin’ his foot until Elora emerged lookin’ dazzlin’ with a fresh scrubbed face, a mostly white gown with little printed blue things on it, and towel dried hair. I knew she did no’ like wearin’ patterned clothing because everything she chose was solid in color.
“Monq,” she said.
“I am he.” Sometimes I think Monq prides himself in bein’ strange. “First, how do you feel? Are you hungry?”
She hesitated for a second, apparently decidin’ to negotiate. “Can I get the I.V. out if I eat?”
“Yes,” Monq said.
“Okay. Then I’ll have pancakes with chocolate chips, two eggs over easy, and a cup of French onion soup. But I won’t eat any of it until the I.V. is out of my life.” With that, she sat down on the bed and pulled a blanket over her lap.
Monq nodded and disappeared from the room without another word. Two minutes later he returned, sayin’, “Your order has been placed and I’ve instructed removal of the I.V.”
“Thank you,” Elora said.
“And I have more good news.”
Monq waited for a response until Elora finally said, “Yes. Go on.”
“As you may or may not know, The Order has been actively seeking a cure for the vampire virus since we had enough scientific understanding to know that it is a virus. It seems this incident made you an accidental catalyst. We believe your blood will serve as the basis for an antidote.”
Elora stared at Monq, appearin’ to process that revelation. When she spoke, what she had to say could no’ have surprised me more. “You can cure Baka?”
“Definite possibility and we need a test subject.”
“Let me ask him. I want to do it in person. Can you arrange for him to come here?”
“Given Sir Storm’s surprisingly stellar recommendation, I don’t think there will be a problem with that.”
“Thank you. Will somebody bring me my phone?”
I was flummoxed with the implication of that request. “Please tell me you do no’ have his bloody phone number!”
Elora looked sheepish. “He’s so lonely, Ram. He’s got no one.”
I tried to come up out of the chair in a hurry, but the brakes were no’ locked on the wheelchair and I ended up sittin’ back down hard, which hurt like a demon beatin’, but no’ as bad as landin’ on my arse would have been. I tried for as much indignation as I could manage while wearin’ a little cotton gown and sittin’ in a wheelchair.
“Great Paddy Shits in the Mornin’, Elora! He’s a vampire! No’ a stray dog!”
“See? I knew that’s how you would react, which is exactly why I didn’t tell you.” My mouth fell open at the blatant lack of repentance for her totally unacceptable behavior. Then she drove the nail into my heart by sayin’, “Do not even think about hyperventilating.”
I gave her a look that should have shamed her to the core, but instead of beggin’ my forgiveness, she laughed!
“Ow,” she said. And I know you will believe me when I say I took no pleasure in the consequence she paid for laughin’ in my face.
“The death of me, Elora,” I said, shakin’ my head.
One of the duty nurses swept in, handed Elora her phone, and turned to rush away.
“Hey!” I protested. “Where’s my phone? I asked first!”
Elora gave me a smug look followed by a wicked smile. “They like me better.”
I sighed. Who could argue with that? I liked her better, too. But I wanted my phone.
Two hours later all four members of B Team were assembled in our hospital room awaitin’ Baka’s arrival. He knocked, then opened the door a few inches. Storm waved him in. He nodded at Storm, Kay, then me, but did no’ move closer toward Elora.
“Hi,” she said. The back of her bed was raised so that she was sittin’ up.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, soundin’ for all the world like he was actually concerned.
“Better. I want to thank you for your part in this. And I have a question.”
“Ask,” was all he said, no’ takin’ his attention away from Elora.
“What do you want more than anything?”
He was clearly surprised by the question. And why would he no’ be? I’m certain that was the last thing he was expectin’.
He looked around the room for some clue as to where the line of questionin’ might be headed, but since none of us knew, we wore blank expressions. Satisfied that he’d get nothin’ by studyin’ us, he turned back to Elora.
“That’s a strange question. Certainly one I never expected to be asked. What is it you’re after? Just speak it plain.”
“It is a strange question. I know that, but humor me please. Just pretend for a minute that I have a magic wand and could make anything possible. Would you want to be CEO of a Fortune 500 company? A Broadway star? Professional athlete? Hugh Hefner?”
He smiled sadly and shook his head. He did no’ take a lot of time to formulate an answer.
“Very well,” he said like he was tired and givin’ up. “You want soul baring. Sure. What difference does it make?” He glanced over my teammates and me once again, like the exercise was embarrasin’ but he would do what she asked for the simple reason that she asked it.
“Nothing like any of those things. What I would want is just to have back what was taken from me: a wife, children, a trade I can be proud to work every day with a sense of purpose and accomplishment, a bowl of stew at night, a warm bed with a soft and willing woman who believes she loves me, a chance at old age, and people to mourn me when I’m gone.”
Elora nodded and smiled. “Baka. You don’t disappoint me. I think you deserve to have that wish come true. Monq thinks something good may have come from this.” She gestured toward her body. “He thinks he has a cure for the virus and needs a test subject. We suggested you.”
Baka stared for a full minute without shiftin’ his stance or changin’ his expression. A couple of times he opened his mouth, but then closed it as if he’d either lost the thought or was searchin’ for a more perfect response.
What he finally settled on was, “Thank you.” His voice broke. Kay and Storm both looked away, apparently moved by the vampire’s desire to be nothin’ more than a simple man with a simple life. Once again. And I wondered if they had bonded in that unique way that occurs when people have experienced a battle or a crisis together.
Elora looked between Storm and Kay. “Will you show him the way to Monq’s lab?” To Baka, she said, “I hope you get what you want, Istvan.”
He smiled, said, “My Lady,” and gave her an old world sort of combination between a nod and a bow.
When they’d gone, I said, “How did that feel, Gepetto?” She looked at me like she did no’ get the reference. “You turned the vampire into a real boy, did you no’?”
“Why, Ram, have you become an aficionado of fairy tales?”
I dropped my chin in mock exasperation. “Elf tales.”
CHAPTER 26
Ram
Two weeks later Elora and I had both had the external stitches removed. We were given clearance to leave for the holidays. We’d had a lot of time off that year, between Lan’s death and sheet time, but it was our year for Yule and our names stayed on the roster.
We had ten days between December 20th and New Years.
I was waitin’ in the hallway outside Elora’s apartment, knowin’ her habits and that she’d be back from walkin’ Blackie at any minute. I could no’ wait to show her the New Forest and spend time with her at the huntin’ cabin.
She smiled brightly when she got close. “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself.”
“What’s up?”
“Can I come in?”
“Sure. You want some cocoa?” she asked as she was punchin’ her code into the pad.
I followed her inside. “No. I’m here to ask you a question.”
“Oh?”
“Just found out we’ve got leave to go home for Yule.”
“I know. I heard.” She took Blackie’s leash off, gave him a pet, and stood up to look at me. “I’m going to California with Storm. What are you doing?”
I took a step toward her, wantin’ to take her by the shoulders and make her understand that we were mates. She looked alarmed at the change in my expression, but I needed her to be payin’ attention. ‘Twas no’ goin’ to be a casual conversation after all.
“No. Elora, you can no’ do this.” In hindsight I admit that statement was no’ as well thought out as it could have been. Tellin’ someone like Elora that she can no’ do a thing is throwin’ down the gauntlet.
“Of course I can.”
“You love him?”
“Ram, where is this coming from?”
“Just answer. Do you love him?”
“Like a brother.”
“‘Tis no’ enough, Elora.”
“Well, it will have to be.”
I could tell she was both determined and resigned. ‘Twas playin’ out just as Kay had predicted in Romania. I was in a panic knowin’ I had to find a way to interrupt the course in progress. I could no’ think of anything to do except tell her the truth. She had to understand.
“No. You do no’ understand. You’re mine. My mate.” I took her by the shoulders and willed her to look in my eyes. I needed her to see my sincerity and know the truth of what I was sayin’. “The only one I will ever have.”
“Ram.” She pulled away, laughin’. “Don’t be ridiculous. I made up my mind a long time ago that I’m not going to end up like one of your toss-aways.”
“My what?”
“I know all about your man whore reputation. Elsbeth told me.”
So that was the root cause of her resistance. So many things fell into place. If this did no’ go well, I would burn Elsbeth alive in the middle of the Courtpark and sell tickets.
“Els…!” I was confounded. “Elora. You’ve got this wrong. I have no’ so much as looked at another female since layin’ eyes on you. Other women – ‘twas practically the same as masturbation. I was j
ust markin’ time while waitin’ for you.”
For a moment her resolve faltered. I could see it, but she recovered and laughed again, like it was nothin’ more than elf mischief. “Rammel.” She shook her head.
I was feelin’ desperate and probably lookin’ wild-eyed. Then I remembered the book. I turned and started rummagin’ through the piles of stuff on her dinin’ desk.
“Ram, what are you doing?”
I found it and held it up. Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Elves But Were Afraid To Ask.
“Lookin’ for this. Did you read it?”
“Sort of.”
“Sort of?” I started through the pages.
“Ram. What is it that you…?”
“Just a minute,” I said. I found the passage, grabbed one of her yellow markers, colored over the lines and handed her the open book. “Read this!” She hesitated, looking serious. Finally. Then reached out and took it. “Out loud.”
She looked at me like she did no’ appreciate me givin’ her orders, but let it go and started to read. “As a species, elves have a strong sex drive. Male elves, in particular, are highly promiscuous until they recognize their mates. Afterward they are singularly devoted and strictly monogamous.”
Every trace of amusement had faded from her face and I was sure she was comin’ to an understandin’ of the fact that I was no’ lookin’ for a fuck buddy. “And you believe that I’m your mate?”
“’Tis no’ a matter of belief. ‘Tis an instinct unerrin’. One that can no’ be either changed or denied. That day in New York when you asked me what I want more than anything, the reason I could no’ say was no’ because I did no’ know. Of course I know. ‘Tis you, Elora. Only you. And it always will be. Only you.”
She turned away from me, shakin’ her head, and quietly said, “I hope that’s not so, Ram.”
Gods in heaven and hel, I thought, this could no’ be happenin’.
I moved closer. “Elora. Please. Do no’ do this thing. If I recognize you as my mate, there must be a part of you that knows we fit together. We’re right for each other because we were made to be together. You must know it. Come home with me. Marry me.”
Knights of Black Swan, Books 7-9 (Knights of Black Swan Box Set Book 3) Page 57
